Prof Francis Otunta, Returning Officer, 2019 Imo Gov. Election, Dies |The Source

By Gideon Njoku

The Imo State Returning Officer during the 2019 Governorship election, Prof Francis Otunta is dead. He died on Monday, March 29, 2021, in a vehicle accident.

An academic of repute, it was Otunta who declared the Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha the duly elected Governor of Imo State after the election.

Ihedioha was in office for seven months before he was removed by the Supreme Court, which then declared Senator Hope Uzodinma as the rightful duly elected Governor of the State.

Prof Otunta was appointed as the fifth Vice Chancellor of the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umuahia, in December, 2015. And retired about a month ago before his unfortunate death.

Born on April 29, 1958, in Afikpo, Ebonyi State, he attended both the Universities of Illorin and Benin. He was aged 62 years.